Walking a Labyrinth!

Wrote this in early Fall... Was holding in case our church needed someone to fill in to do a sermon. Grateful that didn't become necessary as our minister has found recovery, so now I'm posting :-)

Last time I spoke in our church, I shared some of my reasons for participating in the Coldest Night of the Year walk. While I found that experience very rewarding, and even a boost to my confidence for a while, I also shared with many of you that I found it very challenging to prepare for, and so I honestly thought I’d never take on the challenge again to prepare a sermon. 

My dilemma was, what could I talk about, and how could I do it without rattling on for too long and getting too stressed about it?! I enjoy connecting with all of you, but my last sermon was over 3000 words, very personal, and I now realize sermons in our church are typically only about 1000 words. I promise, this one is shorter than my last one!

If you were paying attention to our bulletins this summer, you noticed a series of three talks called “Faith at Work” were held on Sunday evenings at St. John the Baptist Anglican Church in River John. What you may not have realized is that those talks were orchestrated by Monica Graham, who I think many of you recognize as a local author and friend. Monica thought it would be interesting to have people speak about how their faith helps them in their daily work, I suppose to inspire others to apply their faith further in their daily work. As the talks had a positive impact on me, and I know very few from our congregations attended, I thought I’d share a bit here today.

The first talk was on June 30th, entitled "Called by Earth and Sky". If you are following my blog, I apologize here for a bit of repetition from my “Waiting for Lightning” post. I’ll be more concise here. On this day, I reflected that part of our scripture reading was from Galatians 5: verses 22-23... where it says

"the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control."

Later that same day, reading a book called “Girl Wash Your Face” by Rachel Hollis, imagine my surprise about midway into the book when I realized she had written about Fruit of the Spirit, too! I enjoyed this book quite a lot. It is a book of advice to women, where she mixes in references to scripture. Anyway, that all led up to the evening, when Rev. Marian Lucas-Jefferies spoke. She talked about how Irish people speak of "thin" places... the places where Heaven and Earth seem to touch. She went on to talk about how these places are in jeopardy, as we are in midst of a climate crisis, and shared stories of people taking action to address this crisis, appealing to us to get involved. As part of this, guess what she talked about?! Again, those same words were shared... She advised us to use the fruit of the Spirit to take action. She encouraged us to support those on the front lines who are causing disturbances and even getting arrested. After all, she reminded us, even Jesus was arrested for causing a disturbance when talking about what he believed was important! Later, people shared some ideas about how we could take action, and it struck me that one of the simplest ways we could be involved is to use our "self-control" by doing things like stopping use of disposable dishes at our events. I hope you will support me as I try to do better in this way going forward at our pancake breakfasts and candlelight dinners. (There is even one SOLD OUT tonight - Dec 6th - at Lyon's Brook Hall!)

The next talk was on July 28th. I found this one especially interesting, as it was delivered by Monica’s daughter and an old friend of mine. Born and raised in Pictou County, Rev. Maryann Skinner is now an ordained minister in the United Church of Canada and is now a federal prison chaplain in Kitchener, Ontario. She discussed her role at Grand Valley Institution for Women in a presentation entitled “Run. Stop. Restore.” She talked about restorative justice and how she works in areas with varying levels of security, from minimum to maximum. I found it especially interesting to see pictures of some minimum security prison homes that look more like cottages, where groups of 10 women share space, things like knives are available but chained to a wall, and where they can order from custom-made Avon catalogues. It was disappointing to hear about the lack of government support for the programs led by Maryann, but good to hear at least there are some success stories from her work.

That brings us to August 18th, the talk that I suppose had the longest lasting impression on me. Here, local author Sheree Fitch spoke of “Walking the Labyrinth”. If you haven’t had the pleasure of visiting Maple Murple’s Book Shoppe & Dreamery in River John yet, especially if you have young children in your life, I highly recommend this place with its sparkly floor, whimsical playhouse, and fairy tree, and also now I’ve learned a labyrinth, too! I feel honoured to have been able to hear Sheree’s very personal story, a story I’ve found myself reflecting on many times since. She has been through a lot, but somehow is still a very positive and inspiring person! Sheree began by telling us that she lived in Washington at the time of 9/11. After that horrific event, she visited a local church and discovered the meditative practice of walking a labyrinth, one way to cope amidst the tragedy. This was a new option for spiritual practice that I had not heard about before. I did not know that a labyrinth is different than a maze. In a maze, you can walk multiple paths. However, in a labyrinth, she pointed out much like in life, there is only one path you take. You generally do not know the turns the path will take when you enter, and there are many turns along the path, but ultimately there is only one way to go and a single destination that happens to be the same as where you entered. Sheree spoke of 3 Rs related to walk the path. First, you pause and “release” your thoughts about something as you enter and walk the path to the center… thoughts perhaps about a problem you wish to address or a situation you wish to deal with. You walk the path mindfully, eventually reaching the center of the labyrinth, where you are meant to pause to be “restored”. Finally, you retrace your steps along the path, to be “returned” into the world. It turns out that Sheree also experienced a very serious loss in her life recently due to mental illness. With her son’s passing, her husband Gilles Plante spent a year on his hands and knees in their property, creating a labyrinth that is now open for free use by us! Sheree now walks the labyrinth twice daily, and she shared that this has played a huge role in helping her deal with her grief. Walking the labyrinth with Sheree on that evening was a moving, profound experience. It is her wish that our community also use the labyrinth as well, and so I look forward to doing so again someday soon and encourage you to do so as well. If you go, be sure to notice her prayer flags, too, flying in the distance also in memory of her son.

I understand that Monica Graham intends to organize more “Faith At Work” talks in our community in future. Hopefully after hearing about these you will join me in supporting her in this endeavour.

If you enjoyed this post and would like to read more written by me in future, you are invited to go to my page in Facebook as well, to follow and "Like" the page so you will get notifications in your Facebook feed when I write posts in future:

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Thanks for reading!

Waiting for Lightning?

You ever have one of these days where you feel like someone (God?) is trying to give you a message? For me, today was a day like that...

After hearing the peaceful song "Come and Find the Quiet Center" in church last weekend, I decided to find it in Spotify and then let the app recommend a next song... It turned out the next song was called "Waiting for Lighting", and became a song I played more in the coming days. "Are you waiting for lighting?", the song asks. (If you haven't heard these songs, you could try this link to have a listen: https://open.spotify.com/album/0cvVq9hEEeDXP2tNThsCe8.) I cannot help but reflect on the words of this song here tonight, as I have many times and in varying contexts throughout the week.

I'm still working my way through listening to an audio version of the Bible. To those who know me well, it perhaps would not surprise you that what I enjoy most as I do this are stories highlighting people using their virtues. I reflect about how people either used or did not use their virtues in the context of each story. The Old Testament is filled with stories where I feel virtues were NOT used! I've only fully listened to books 1-6 of 66 so far, so I still have MUCH to listen to, though of course I've heard some of the other stories, too.

This morning, as part of our church service, the scripture reading was in a later book - Galatians 5:1, 13-16a, 22-25... This one I do not recall hearing before (though likely did as a child), and I confess I "zoned out" for some of that reading, so I missed the words in 22-23. Fortunately, our minister had the sense to repeat those words during his reflection about how Canada is "glorious and free", and so I did not miss the opportunity to hear them today. He talked about how we are guided to live by the Spirit. This scripture says that "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control." That's beautiful, I found myself reflecting this morning. Guidance once again to practice our virtues - the gifts of character.

After church, my afternoon was spent relaxing with a book. I haven't done this much lately - it's been a very busy time - and so this felt like quite a treat, to just sit around all afternoon reading! Via our local library web site earlier this week, I had downloaded "Girl, Wash Your Face" by Rachel Hollis... Imagine my surprise when, about midway into the book, I realize she has written about Fruit of the Spirit, too! I enjoyed this book quite a lot. It is a book of advice to women, where she mixes in references to scripture. I read it cover-to-cover this afternoon, and found it left me feeling rather inspired to focus on some goals I wish to achieve. I intend to start my own business and write a book, too!

Of course, my day wasn't over yet! This evening, I had the pleasure of attending a lecture entitled "Called by Earth and Sky". Rev. Marian Lucas-Jefferies began by talking about how Irish people speak of "thin" places... the places where Heaven and Earth seem to touch. She went on to talk about how these places are in jeopardy, as we are in midst of a climate crisis, and shared stories of people taking action to address this crisis, appealing to us to get involved. As part of this, guess what she talked about?! Again, those same words were shared... She advised us to use the Fruit of the Spirit to take action. She encouraged us to support those on the front lines who are causing disturbances and even getting arrested. After all, she reminded us, even Jesus was arrested for causing a disturbance when talking about what he believed was important! Later, people shared some ideas about how we could take action, and it struck me that one of the simplest, immediate ways we could take action is to use our "self-control" by doing things like stopping use of disposable dishes in our churches. 

As I drove away from there tonight, I heard that song again... "Are you waiting for lightning?", and it occurred to me... Are we? How much more do we need to hear before we start taking serious action? I think the least we can do is stop using disposable dishes in the church, so from now on folks should not be surprised that I'm a stronger supporter of that idea!

If you made it this far, perhaps you enjoyed this post and would like to read more written by me in future? If so, you are invited to go to my page in Facebook as well, to follow and "Like" the page so you will get notifications in your Facebook feed when I write posts in future:

https://www.facebook.com/Christine.Marie.MacKenzie/

Thanks for reading!

Goodbye to Grampy Ward

With heavy hearts and sincere gratitude, today we celebrate the life of Eldon Ward Salsman.

As stated in his obituary, Ward's wishes were that we not attend any funeral in his honour, but it just doesn't feel right to do nothing today, so here is what I would have said in such a setting.

Ward was born on September 3rd, 1936, in Stormont. As a young boy, Ward moved from Country Harbour to Pictou County, eventually residing on Tanner Hill Road in 1945. This remained his home until he passed away on May 16, 2019, at the Aberdeen Hospital, New Glasgow.

Ward became an electrician by trade, as he served in the Royal Canadian Navy with his brother Mel starting in 1954. His naval career took him around the world, serving on the HMCS Bonaventure “Bonny” aircraft carrier, which is now memorialized in Point Pleasant Park in Halifax. As Ward did not like being told what to do, he chose to leave the Navy after meeting his commitment of one term, and shared that he would never again choose another job that involved standing in a line or doing "shark watches" so that your comrades could get clean in the ocean. We are not 100% certain, but we think Ward is at right in this picture.

About 35 years ago, in the early '80s and while raising teenage twin daughters and separated from his wife, Ward met my mother-in-law, Doris. As Kevin and I attended high school and began dating, Ward was also courting her. As a result of this, we started to collect many wonderful memories with this man.

Ward was a very hard worker with strong work ethic. He even still worked this year, at age 82, as a safety auditor for several companies. Each Spring, including this April, Ward began preparing to plant his massive fields of beans, green peppers, potatoes, tomatoes and turnip. Later in the year, his family and friends would reap the benefits of his harvest and this brought him great joy. Highlight of our Thanksgiving or Christmas dinners was often a very big, fresh turkey that he raised, and a LOT of beans, potatoes and turnip that we looked forward to sharing together. This seems to be the earliest photo I have of one such family gathering, taken in 1991 and showing his wonderful smile.

When we married in 1997, I was honoured to have Ward serve as my father-in-law.

In 2003, as we began to raise our family, we moved back to Pictou County, and these pictures show how our tradition of family dinners together continued. Our oldest son, Tom, is shown here very young. He is now 18 and I think looks a lot like that young Navy boy shown earlier.

We purchased our current home in Lyon's Brook, and Ward began what seemed to be an endless task, using his skills as an electrician to eventually rewire our entire house. We will miss his assistance, too!

Our children will forever remember Ward as a kind and loving example of a man, who they have come to call "Grampy Ward". These pictures include Tom and Morgan, from 2004 (when Tom was still called Tommy and age 4) and 2010 (when Morgan was 6 and still loved pink). A lot has changed since then, while much also stayed the same.

In 2010, we shared a memorable fishing trip at Glenn and Helen Salter's pond.

I don't think Ward ever really stopped courting Doris. Often, when I'd come for a visit, I'd hear about the beautiful flowers Ward had brought for her, or Ward would be sitting there waiting at the table with a pleasant greeting as well. They liked to go for rides together, touring our beautiful province in what I thought of as sort of obscure, quiet places at times. 

At his daily trip for coffee at Tim Horton's in Alma, Ward enjoyed the company of many friends who we are sure are also feeling his absence today. Furthermore, Ward has many friends in Rattling Brook, Newfoundland, where he enjoyed taking a fishing trip almost annually each Fall.

Much like many in his generation, Ward wasn't too excited about computers... but with two computer geeks in his life he really didn't stand a chance of ignoring them. When I taught a community computer class in 2007, I managed to get him and Doris there, and Ward learned just enough so that each day he could visit Doris and use the computer to play Hearts.

In September of 2016, we celebrated Ward's 80th birthday together, from which I am now pleased to have this video and picture to remember him:

I think my fondest personal memory of Ward is from summer of 2017. Together, we ripped out Doris' old deck and he rebuilt the supports underneath, then he guided me as I rebuilt the rest. When it was all done, we needed to get rid of the rotten wood. Ward kept a burn pile on his property, so we loaded his truck and I went there with him to unload the mess. When we finished, he decided he wanted to show me more of his beautiful property. He proceeded to drive me down what I thought was barely a walking path. Honestly, he sort of scared me, as he drove a bit fast through the rough territory and the tree branches attacked his truck. I thought for sure we were going to get stuck out there where no one would be quite sure how to quickly find us, but eventually he stopped the truck and we got out. He proceeded to show me that what I thought was a path was actually the original highway that ran through Pictou County years ago. It crosses a brook where I remember him taking us fishing with our kids. He spoke of his fond memories of childhood, his time in the Navy, of years gone by and how much he loved his home.

Sadly, this takes me to the final chapter in Ward's time here with us. This past year has been very tough for Ward. One of his daughters was diagnosed with cancer and passed away last May, and he struggled a lot with the grief that came from that. We were just this month starting to again see some of the old Ward, when he decided it was time to start that Spring routine of his again. While splitting wood, Ward somehow managed to injure his back, and this led to him being hospitalized. Of course, Ward did not at all like being unable to get out and move around. The nurses struggled to keep him in bed, and he experienced a few falls,which led us to understand he would not be able to come home again with us. At about 11:30 am, I left Doris alone with him, telling her I'd return soon with a coffee. Just minutes after that, he quietly slipped away from us in her arms. As he liked to signal at times, "peace".

As stated as I began writing this, Ward did not want any funeral with all his family and friends in attendance, but just a very private service. In lieu of that, in celebration of Ward's life, we will be hosting an afternoon gathering for Ward's family and friends - at Lyon's Brook Hall on Saturday, May 25th, 2-4 pm.

Update after original post:We will be hosting an afternoon gathering to honour this man who meant so very much to all of us. Please feel free to bring any pictures or stories you wish to share, hugs and perhaps a card for Doris. We will have some sandwiches or sweets to share as we visit each other. We do not need everyone to bring food :-)

Confidence

Tonight, I am feeling grateful for the gift of CONFIDENCE. I haven't written in quite a while, so thought maybe I'd share a virtues reflection.
The week started with thoughts about Sunday School. The lesson tomorrow morning is intended to be about Acts 5 27-32, and so some of my time this week has been spent reflecting on and trying to prepare to speak with children about that. As I'm preparing, I like to try to work out which virtue is most strongly represented in the story we are meant to focus on. In this story, we hear how Peter and the other apostles respond when they are told they should not teach about Jesus. They were given strict orders not to speak out anymore, after Jesus himself was crucified for doing so, and yet they still chose to tell people about Jesus. I suppose these men had amazing CONFIDENCE in order to do that.

As the week marched on, next I learned about the passing of an amazing woman in our community, Jennie. As I read her story, I realized that this woman was a role model of CONFIDENCE for me. She once told me that I could become President of our local Women's Institute group, which before saying that I would never have dreamed I could do, and with her encouragement I actually went on to do that. I now teach Sunday School as well, as I have learned she once did, and there are other activities in her life story that I feel connected to as well. I will be forever grateful for her presence in my life, as she gave me CONFIDENCE that even a woman like me in a small community can make a difference in this crazy world that we live in.

Of course, my CONFIDENCE  has been shaken at times as well this week, but I think that also has led to some personal development. Stories of friends and family passing have become very common in this past year. This week alone, three friends have each lost parents, and another friend lost her brother. This has left me quiet and reflective, especially today as it's been such a dark and rainy day. I recall that, when visiting a friend at a funeral home a few years ago... I cried so much the poor soul on the receiving end probably did not want me anywhere near there. However I reflect now that, as my faith in what cannot be seen has grown in recent years, as I have watched people like Jennie approach life, I have strengthened CONFIDENCE now - I feel I can cope with whatever happens, and so no longer have a breakdown when I visit a funeral home. Tonight I visited a friend and even managed to smile in her presence in the funeral home! I truly admire her CONFIDENCE as she is receiving each visitor tonight in her time of grief.

One more example from this week before I close this post...  My daughter was an entrant in a Music Festival competition. In the traditional folk song class, my daughter sang solo and unaccompanied! That too was a great example of CONFIDENCE this week, and she did very well, too! Just now, I was reminded as well in Facebook that my son also competed in the festival six years ago and did very well. My children are growing up with a great deal of CONFIDENCE, and so I feel gratitude for this!

All this to say, I am grateful for the gift of CONFIDENCE, and hope you also feel some CONFIDENCE as you proceed into the coming week, too!

Join my Book Club?

I recently finished reading what's available so far from Louise Penny. This series was very good and kept me busy for the past year, but then I found myself left with a dilemma - I could no longer escape to White Pines! ...  What to read next?!

A friend recommended "House Rules" by Jodi Picoult, so part of January was spent immersed in listening to that. (I don't recommended borrowing the 17 CD set from the library as I did. Download an audiobook online instead and save yourself some grief in trying to get it to play!) The main character in this book is a teenage boy diagnosed with Asperger's, and it was rather neat to find I could relate to a LOT in this novel. I would recommend it to anyone who is not familiar with the traits that can lead to this diagnosis. Bit of a scary read as well though, as it is a compelling reminder that it is very important that police officers are trained to understand the challenges that can be experienced when trying to communicate with someone with Asperger's traits. If you read this, i expect you will be on the edge of your seat as you wonder if the boy murdered his Social Literacy teacher or not. I won't spoil the ending here!

Following this, I moved on to reading "A Seat at the Table" by Mark Schwartz. If you are working with technology and looking to understand Agile and DevOps more, this is a good one for leaders. Mostly in this one I've picked up on the idea that IT folks need to stop writing "requirements" and instead focus on documenting the "business outcomes" we want to achieve in order to inspire developers into action. We should not "require" that developers create specific deliverables, but instead talk about the outcomes we want to achieve and let creativity take over from there. We are moving faster and faster away from Waterfall approaches in project management, to a world where the vision is that someday we'll have developed so much automation that we'll live in a world of NoOps.. where people are no longer needed to operate things anymore. You can perhaps imagine that where I work is doing some pretty interesting things now - focused on new ways to automate our world!

Now, with all that complexity in my work life, I've found myself physically and mentally worn out at night. Time to focus on spirit then, I decided! What better way to do that than to tackle the Bible? Yikes! I have tried this before, but I generally made it only a few pages into the book of Genesis and gave up. Of course, I've read passages as directed in church and for the Sunday School curriculum, but I've never managed to read it cover to cover. Has anyone?! I suppose many have, but this book is so tedious to read, so kudos to you if you did this! 

I'm not giving up though... I discovered there are free audio book readings for the Bible, too, so I've been listening to "The Book of Genesis - NIV Audio Holy Bible - High Quality and Best Speed - Book 1" by The Two Preachers. This is still a bit tedious, but also I've found some of it quite interesting. Now I can understand how Bible study groups come to be! My takeaway so far is that Genesis is a great reminder that, while things are pretty challenging in our world now, we have certainly come a long way as well to improve. I woke up a few nights ago with my brain trying to draw a picture. Thankfully, a simple Google search turned up multiple versions of this picture, such as this one: https://www.adamandevefamilytree.com/store/products.php?product=THE-ADAM-AND-EVE-FAMILY-TREE-WALL-CHART. No wonder I was finding this tedious to read! Most of the book of Genesis is focused on words to describe this picture, where it seems men would "lie down" repeatedly with women and had many, many offspring, provided many names I've never heard before, and they lived much longer than we do now well. I'm nearly through this Book 1, happy to find as well that I've enjoyed learning a few things...  I now have renewed understanding of where Israel and Iran apparently began, and about Joseph and his "technicolour dreamcoat", and I'm interested to hear more of this famous story in the order it has been compiled. Want to join my online Bible study book club? If so, listen to this audio book and share your thoughts.

What are you reading now?

Peace

I've started to get comments that I am "too quiet" and queries about whether or not I'm okay, so figured time to at least write a quick message here to share an update.

Since my last post, I have been back to work for a while, which I think has gone pretty well. My health issues seem to be behind me for now, as I've moved into a state of healthier eating and no longer seem to be constantly fighting insomnia. Of course, the kids are continuing to grow up and assert their independence, bringing a variety of challenges, but I think my mindset is better now than it was in recent months and so generally I suppose I'm FINE (yes, as Louise Penny would describe, if you have read her books and know what that means).

By the time Christmas came along, I was very ready for another break though, as most people are at this time of year, so grateful to have a week off. I basically kicked back and did nothing for the week between Christmas Day and New Year's Eve, as I hope you had the chance to do as well, if you so desired. Most of my time was spent reading - two more Penny novels and most of "Pillars of the Earth". We had our annual games night with family and friends to "ring in" the new year, which was wonderful as always. After that, I returned to work and have been in a mode of trying to "up skill" myself related to DevOps, as the coming year will involve more and more change with that in mind. I've also done a little bit more house organizing - inspired by watching some "Tidying Up" episodes featuring Marie Kondo. I recommend these if you want a small nudge toward tidying, too! Generally, I suppose my days have been pretty low key, which I don't really see as a bad thing!

These past few weeks have also been a time of quiet reflection. 2018 was a rough year for many of us! In my own circle of family and friends, I can name at least 16 people who I had to say goodbye to. Grief seemed to be a state I was more often experiencing than not. I suppose I have been in a calm state of "acceptance" generally lately.

In conclusion, yes, I'm okay. I think quiet is just a sign that I'm feeling at peace at this time. I write a lot less when I'm doing well - I seem to experience "writer's block" unless I'm very stressed out, so I suppose folks should not be concerned when I'm writing less, though also know that I like to write and hear from people, and so will do more if I think of something to write about!

At the very least, I wish to say that I hope that each and every person reading this feels peace, too. 2019 feels like it's starting out in a more positive light than 2018. With gratitude for all of your support in the past year, may God bless you and Happy New Year!